Alliteration: The repetition of the same, or similar, consonant sounds, usually on the first syllable of words
Reference / Quote / Effect
Antithesis: The contrast of ideas or words in a balanced or parallel construction
Act 1 Scene 1 Lines 167-168 and 169-173
Romeo: 'Why then, O brawling love, O loving hate, O any thing of nothing first create'
Romeo: 'O heavy lightness, serious vanity,
Misshapen chaos of well seeming forms,
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health,
Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!'
Pronounces the irony of love, how it can be so beautiful but so painful
Assonance: The repetition of vowel symbols in neighbouring syllables
Reference / Quote / Effect
Caesura: The break or pause in the middle of a line of verse, marked by punctuation
Reference / Quote / Effect
Couplet: A pair of verse lines that usually rhyme
Reference / Quote / Effect
Dramatic Irony: This is when the audience of a play knows crucial information that the characters on stage do not know.
Act 2 Scene 2 Lines 33-36
Juliet: 'O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?/Deny thy father and reduse thy name;/Of if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,/An I'll no longer be a Capulte.'
[Aside] Romeo: Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?'
Creates humour
Is a good narrative tool to increase the pace of the play
Enjambment: When a sentence runs from one line of verse to the next, with no punctuation or pause.
Reference / Quote / Effect
Hyperbole: A description which exaggerates, by using extremes of language
Reference / Quote / Effect
Iambic Pentameter: A line of verse that includes ten syllables where every second beat is accented or stressed
Reference / Quote / Effect
Imagery: Figurative or vivid language which is used to invoke imaginative or emotional responses. NB: This is a very general term, and includes more specific examples like metaphor, similes and symbols
Act 3 Scene 2 Line 73-74
Juliet: O serpent heart, hid with aflow'ring face!
Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?
Effect: The use of this imagery regarding Romeo and the recent events of him killing Tybalt, adds an image to the new found perception that Juliet has of Romeo. She ponders who he his, an evil person hidden underneath his pretty face, she wonders. The imagery creates entertainment as well as an element of relatability (if thats a word...) for the audience as it provides them with a deeper and clearer picture of what the character is feeling.
Metaphor: A substitution of an object or idea for another by stating one is the other, usually to show that they share one specific quality or feature
Act 1 Scene 1 Lines 181-185
Romeo: Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs,
Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers eyes,
Being vexed, a sea nourished with loving tears,
What is it else? a madness most discreet,
A choking gall, and a preserving sweet.
Effect: The effect of the metaphors that Romeo uses, exentuates his love for Rosaline by comparing it to the above. He later describes his love for Juliet very similarly, this raises questions of the purity of his love for Juliet.
Onomatopoeia: A word that sounds like what it is describing
Reference / Quote / Effect
Oxymoron: A word or phrase made up of two opposites
Reference / Quote / Effect
Personification
Act 4 Scene 5 Lines 39-39
Capulet: Death is my son-in-law, Death is my heir,
My daughter he hath wedded. I will die,
And leave him all; life, living, all is Death's.
Effect: Capulet refers to Death as a person who has consumed/married Juliet. The use of this emphasises his sorrow and highlights the fact that Death is always present, and is constantly consuming everyone.
Prose
Reference
1.1- between the servants
2.4- Mercutio, Romeo and Benvolio
Various dialogue of serving people
effect: demonstrates the casualness of dialogue
the status one holds
the participants in the dialogue
i.e. Romeo would speak in verse with Juliet and the Nurse to demonstrate respect, but prose with Mercutio to demonstrate the laid back relationship
Pun
Throughout Act 2 Scene 4- where Mercutio relishes on sexual puns against the nurse and Romeos
Mercutio '...a case as yours constrains a man to bow in the hams...'
Romeo 'Pink for flower...Why then is my pump well flowered.' (line 44-51)
This shows the naivety of the boys and with Romeo's participation, questions his love for Juliet
*Literary TechniquesThe following is a substantive table of literary techniques that are employed in Shakespearean text. Each technique is accompanied with a definition. Over the course of the term you are to find references in Romeo and Juliet that employ these techniques and justify the effect they might have. To quickly find the technique you are looking for, you can click on the following links: Alliteration; Antithesis; Assonance; Caesura; Couplet; Dramatic Irony; Enjambment; Hyperbole; Iambic Pentameter; Imagery; Metaphor; Onomatopoeia; Oxymoron; Personification; Prose; Pun; Repetition; Rhyme; Simile; Verse.
Alliteration: The repetition of the same, or similar, consonant sounds, usually on the first syllable of words
Antithesis: The contrast of ideas or words in a balanced or parallel construction
Misshapen chaos of well seeming forms,
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health,
Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!'
Assonance: The repetition of vowel symbols in neighbouring syllables
Caesura: The break or pause in the middle of a line of verse, marked by punctuation
Couplet: A pair of verse lines that usually rhyme
Dramatic Irony: This is when the audience of a play knows crucial information that the characters on stage do not know.
Enjambment: When a sentence runs from one line of verse to the next, with no punctuation or pause.
Hyperbole: A description which exaggerates, by using extremes of language
Iambic Pentameter: A line of verse that includes ten syllables where every second beat is accented or stressed
Imagery: Figurative or vivid language which is used to invoke imaginative or emotional responses. NB: This is a very general term, and includes more specific examples like metaphor, similes and symbols
- Act 3 Scene 2 Line 73-74
Juliet: O serpent heart, hid with aflow'ring face!Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?
Effect: The use of this imagery regarding Romeo and the recent events of him killing Tybalt, adds an image to the new found perception that Juliet has of Romeo. She ponders who he his, an evil person hidden underneath his pretty face, she wonders. The imagery creates entertainment as well as an element of relatability (if thats a word...) for the audience as it provides them with a deeper and clearer picture of what the character is feeling.
Metaphor: A substitution of an object or idea for another by stating one is the other, usually to show that they share one specific quality or feature
- Act 1 Scene 1 Lines 181-185
Romeo: Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs,Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers eyes,
Being vexed, a sea nourished with loving tears,
What is it else? a madness most discreet,
A choking gall, and a preserving sweet.
Effect: The effect of the metaphors that Romeo uses, exentuates his love for Rosaline by comparing it to the above. He later describes his love for Juliet very similarly, this raises questions of the purity of his love for Juliet.
Onomatopoeia: A word that sounds like what it is describing
Oxymoron: A word or phrase made up of two opposites
Personification
- Act 4 Scene 5 Lines 39-39
Capulet: Death is my son-in-law, Death is my heir,My daughter he hath wedded. I will die,
And leave him all; life, living, all is Death's.
Effect: Capulet refers to Death as a person who has consumed/married Juliet. The use of this emphasises his sorrow and highlights the fact that Death is always present, and is constantly consuming everyone.
Prose
Pun
Repetition
Rhyme
Simile
Verse
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